Omaha daily bee., 1887-08-25
BOTH HER MONEY AND HONOR
BaboOck Borrowed From Miss Dodge and
Then Ruined Her.
THE STORY OF THE SHOOTING.
Details of the Tragedy in Which a
Prominent Chicago Merchant
Met His Death Mt Gard
ner, Illinois.
The Gardner Mystery.

|
wholesale lumber dealer, from the effects of
a pistol wound received in the town of Gard
ner in some manner as yet unascertained,
| resolves the Whole case into one OF the most
refined mysteries in the history Of Illinois
| crime
| 1t Is now believed that Miss Dodge, who
has been arrested for the murder, is the
| guilty party. Babcock seduced her under
promise of marriage, for years spent part OF
his time with her and borrowed her money
without thought of repaylng 1t.
| Miss Dodge has been somewhat belied by
the press. She is nota homely old maid she
Is fairly good looking woman of somewhat
over thirty, well-bred, and apparently well
| educated. She neither denies nor aflirms
her guilt and the authorities have to work
| without her aid.
| Yesterday afternoon the Dodge farmhouse
| was searched by Coroner Hertz and Deputy
Barrett OF Cook county. They arrived on
the noon train from Chicago, and were met
| by Orrin n. Carter states attorney for
Grundy county. These gentlemen held
conference with Messrs. Wing and Slough,
attorneys for Sarah Dodge, and accompanied
| by half dozen correspondents, drove out to
| the house. Mr.. Slough had procured several
keys from Miss Dodge, but thoy failed to un
| lock any of the outside doors. There Is a
| narrow, rOOfed-Over passage between the old
and the new houses, extending back to the
pantry. Entering this passage, a door lead
| ing into the old building was found aar.
In this old building, COAL broken furniture,
and all sorts of rubbish were scattered
about including washing machine half
full of soled clothing. The door be-
tween this room aud the kitchen was
locked, but key in MI. Stough's possession
opened it readily. The only thing worthy OF
notice in the appearance of tho kitchen was
| that IL seemed not TO have been Ised for two
or three days. There were parts of pie
and loaf of bread lying on the kitchen
table, and some other evidences of an in
terruption OF the customary actions
of the occupants of the house. From the
kitchen MIR. Slough led the way into pant
| ry, which contained no object of interest and
| thence into hall approached from a back
door and ending in stairs leading to the up-
per story. Through adDor already open the
party entered the bach parlor, with reference
to the road frontage, Though 1t appeared as
If intended to be ehs best room in the
house. The front parlor, occupying hhlf of
| the IN ain floor next the road, could be seen
through an open door. Coroner Hertz barely
glanced at the contents of the back paror
but proceeded at once into the next room,
followed by the rest of the party. 1t was to
be seen at glance that here the chief inter.
est in the house centered. The carpets of
both rooms were covered with rag-carpets,
and the furniture generally was about such
as one would expect to lind in a farmhouse
whose occupants had some slight notion re-
gardlng the comforts ot life. A few art
ic!es OF turniturej were plainly pre-
| served from the times of the last genera
tion, notably a hair-cloth covered sofa in
the front parlor and. one or two old
fashioned chairs. There was an old-style
cabinet organ In a corner of the front parlor,
|
fashioned, Oval-tramed family portraits
AS though governed by common IMPULSE
the eyes OF every person In the party sought
the floor in front of the bed in the back par
lor when the entrance was made together.
In an instant Coroner Hertz was down upon
his knees by the bedside examining with in
size of silver half dollar. The spot was
plainly visible to the Others from where they
stood and most of them formed their conclu-
slonS and examined more closely after
wards. The small area covered by the stain
was not disappointing in view of the state
ments of the doctors who examined Bah
cock s wound, as 1t would be very unlikely
to bleed more than few, drops externally
until the natural reaction set in, which
would not be under an hour after the wound
was inflicted. But Coroner Hertz jumped at
and found that for a distance of several
inches around 1t the carpet was damp as
thou n water had been spilled on IT. The
stain was red-as red as any blood-stan not
over four days old ever WAS.
, Does that settle 1t. Mr.. Coroner some
, mo one but an expert, aided by proper in
struments," replied the coroner, "can tell
: whether or not this carpet Is stained with
| human blood"
: There seemed to be significant emphasis
on the adjective "human," an emphasis that
was accepted as meaning that the coroner
had no doubt that the spot on the carpet was
a blood stain. He took out his knife and
ripped apart two breadths of carpet and
spot was revealed. The floor seemed to be
3 slightly damp, and that was all. The stain
barely showed through on the under side OF
5 | the carpet.
3 The bed was smoothly made up and COW
: cred with white counterIpane. There were
the bed clothing back. There were no stains
: upon the sheets, though they looked as il
S they had been slept between number OF
: times. The coroner was very thorough In
r his search for signs about the bed of the
woman, who has been the only resident OF
3 the Dodge house since its aged owners went
D to st. Charles year ago. 1t Is notorious tina,
j. dur ling the time Sarah Dodge has had neither
S male nor female employe nor relative in the
7 mattress when the bed clothing had been re
3 moved were the Impressions OF two human
figures. There was no doubt about IT
n house, after taking Bapcock into town. sht
h replaced the clothing on the bed carefully
It but neglected to shake up the husk mattress
Lt | Sne lelt tnere the Imprint OF TWO numau
shapes almost as distinct as though the I'M
pressions had been taken in molding sand
There were no signs of blood about the bed
s | clothing. In the closet opening from this
room. as though hungpp TO dry, was shee
which looked as if 1t might have been rec
: emily washed There was also q white skirt
!, upon which there We're some dark cOlOred
U stains, very different from that on the carpet
and as to the nature OF which there was little
y dispute. There was also some rubbish tina
was OF no Importance.
Now began q search for traces of the bullet
!, which DR.. McMann said Babcock told him
was fired into the AOsr. the search was
), prosecuted faithfully for nearly an hour, bu
u without result In neither floor nor wal
. was discovered hplei that could be madt
with bullet. But yet, the course texture o.
the rag carpet might have made it not i'm
- possible for such bullet to have lef
70 no trace. This was recagnzed by COrone
II Hertz, and he thoughtot taking up the car
pet. but finally decided not TO do so. Durns
4. the search trunk at the foot of the bad was
moved, and under one eoyner OF it WAS fount
-, 81 in half-dolar silvsf pieces. One stronl
y evidence that the room Had recently been pn
to use at least social in its nature was a plat
N of cake stll! standing on ....iu table PLACED
W W against the east SIDE OF the apartment Tn,
"a a at in N nd isl and ntr